A visit to the museum begins with a series of interactive educational activities that explain scientific topics such as earthquakes, reflexes and density. From here, it's on to the fossils. To be considered a fossil, an object must be the remains of a living organism or traces of their activities (such as footprints or droppings) and must be at least 10,000 years old. Coprolites (dinosaur droppings) are considered important because they provide the scientist with information on the feeding habits of the dinosaur. An Albertosaur, a small cousin of the T-Rex, with a strong but agile body, is one of the first fossils that you'll see. It's still embedded in rock. His long neck is curved up and bent over backwards, typical of many dinosaur skeletons due to the drying and shortening of ligaments in the neck. In the Prep Lab section of the Royal Tyrrell you have the opportunity to watch technicians working on genuine fossils. Behind a glass wall, they persistently chip away at rock to reveal the fossil and the scientific information it possesses. The Extreme Theropod (Beast Foot) Hall contains huge skeletons of dinosaurs that you wouldn't have wanted to encounter in the wild. Their huge bones towered over you; your neck gets stiff from craning upwards to see them.

Dinosaur Hall is probably the highlight of the museum as it contains the most complete skeletons housed in one place. An Albertosaur stands tall in one corner with his blade like fangs and clawed hind feet. Ornitholestes proves that not all dinosaurs were giants; this one is only about the size of an average dog. Long Neck Plesiosaur is the most unbelievable. A water dweller, it had up to 70 vertebrae in its neck, making a giraffe's look puny in comparison. This Plesiosaur had 3 times more neck vertebrae than any other animal.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum goes beyond dinosaurs and touches on many aspects of prehistoric life. A re-creation of a 375 million year old Devonian underwater community illustrates what Alberta was like when it was covered in water. The final exhibit, the Ice Ages, displays skeletons of a giant mammoth and a saber toothed cat.